When I posted this July 25, 1922 ad from THE DOTHAN EAGLE for the Hotel Lynn Haven on Wednesday, I had no idea how crucial it would become to our understanding of all the diverse elements that went into the making of the story of DEVIL MAKE A THIRD. At a critical point in the book (Chapter 16), a few years before her death, Jeanie Bannon, Buck's Mama, decides to "tighten the reins" on her "wayward" son. Buck has no idea what's in store for him when his Mama comes by his mayor's office in the Aven City Hall. She tells Buck she's getting old and wants to begin breaking up the Bannon estate so Buck's younger brothers and sisters can benefit from the wealth that Buck has created by himself and with the help of the estate left to his mother by his late father. Buck balks at the idea, becomes angry and says,"I helped make 'ever dime Papa had when he died an' since then I've put 'em to work. I've made more cold-out dollars for that estate than Papa ever saw or heard of, an' I never asked for nor took a dime more'n my share. There ain't another'n in the family that could a' done it. You know that, mighty well." Angered at her son's refusal, Jeanie demands that Buck "give me an accountin' of ever' dollar in the estate" and then threatens to sell her controlling stock in Buck's bank to Buck's former father-in -law Amos Longshore. Such a conclusion is unthinkable to Buck and he immediately begins to "creatively" look for a way out of the predicament his own Mother has promised to place upon him. About a week later, Buck visits his mother at her house on St. Simon Street (North St. Andrews) . He finds Mama sitting in her rocker using a buggy whip to prevent her ten year old grandson, Gene, from stealing bananas from the stalk Jeanie Bannon has hung in a locked closet. After resolving this conflict, Buck tells his Mama that he's already broken up the Bannon estate, made up his sisters' deeds to their property downtown and hired a surveyor to lay out the lots for their new homes. Buck then advises Jeanie to sell her bank stock soon because he'd just completed making up "the fanciest set 'o books in the state" and sold the bank HIMSELF to the dreaded Amos Longshore. Mama is flabbergasted. She claims that the McPherson blood Buck inherited from her side of the family was responsible for his Machiavellian maneuver which checkmated her. Jeanie responds by telling Buck that she wanted him to learn how good sharing the estate with his siblings would make him feel. Buck comes back with, "ME, learn it? Why in the devil don't you unlock your bananas?" So what does the Hotel Lynn Haven have to do with the fictional Bannon family's stalk of bananas locked in a closet. Well, according to my friend, Bay County historian Kenneth Redd, the man who bankrolled the Hotel Lynn Haven, MINOR COOPER KEITH, was also the man who turned the banana from an expensive exotic fruit only available to the wealthy elite into a turn-of-the-century household commodity available to all. The aging Jeanie Bannon still associated the banana with its early reputation of being a expensive luxury. At the time of his death in 1929, not only was Minor Cooper Keith the founder of United Fruit but he was also president of THE BAY LINE and the ST. ANDREWS BAY LUMBER COMPANY. To this day, Minor Cooper Keith is known as THE BANANA KING. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minor_Cooper_Keith
posted by robertoreg at 5:18 PM
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